Saw Valery Gergiev conduct my local orchestra (the Toronto Symphony Orchestra) in a Debussy-Stravinsky program. The last piece was Debussy's magisterial La Mer. I know the piece very well, and I've seen it live once before (James Levine with the BSO), but WOW, it was something else tonight. Gergiev was somehow able to strike the perfect balance between driving the thing forward and making every gesture and sound-world come alive. On top of which he conducted without a podium and was basically dancing the whole time. He was so obviously in complete control of the orchestra, and was able to wring sounds out of them that our usual conductor, Peter Oundjian, NEVER can. I wish I could describe just how incredible the performance was. Makes you forget about the almost-century of bad Debussy pastiches in film scores since the piece was first performed.